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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27435955">Transformers: Hypercharge</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyDoesThings/pseuds/KittyDoesThings'>KittyDoesThings</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Transformers Hypercharge [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Hypercharge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Fan-continuity, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, heavily based off of transformers prime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:21:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,044</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27435955</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyDoesThings/pseuds/KittyDoesThings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A fan-continuity of Transformers heavily based off of the Aligned Continuity (Prime specifically).<br/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br/>Two unidentified objects crash land somewhere in the forest, and a group of four high school students go to scope them out, having nothing else better to do. It turns out that the two objects are alien spaceships from a far away planet called Cybertron, and the one they found, the Ark, belongs to a faction known as the "Autobots". The teens learn of the war raging on between the Autobots and another faction known as the "Decepticons", who also seem to have ended up on Earth. Having accidentally gotten roped into the action, they decide to help out in whatever way they can.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Arcee &amp; Cliffjumper (Transformers), Bulkhead/Wheeljack (Transformers), Bumblebee &amp; Hot Rod (Transformers), Knockout/Breakdown, Optimus Prime/Starscream, Shockwave/Soundwave (Transformers), Slipstream/Windblade (Transformers)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Transformers Hypercharge [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2004745</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Transformers: Hypercharge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As a note: This fic is part of a Transformers Continuity I'm making myself. While inspired by the Aligned Continuity it is not a part of it. Just as a clarification in case anyone's still confused :3</p>
<p>Edit: Merged the 2nd and 3rd parts into the first part and ended up removing the decepticon part for another chapter in the works, doing a little revamping.</p>
<p>Edit 2: Merged chapters again, revamped Chapter 2 coming soon!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A bloody battlefield, fires raging in the distance as the sound of swords clashing and battlecries being shouted echoes through the air. A knight atop a mighty steed charges forward, brandishing his weapon. He is shot down by a blast of magic, the elegantly dressed woman standing triumphantly above him as she finishes him off. As battles rage on, the queen moves towards the opposing camp, where the enemy king is in hiding. She slips behind enemy lines and corners the king in his quarters. There’s nowhere left for him to run… </p>
<p>“Checkmate.”</p>
<p>“Aw darn it!”</p>
<p>The winner, Hank, cleared off the board with a smile on his face. Another game won. His opponent, Daniel, plopped his chin down on the table frustratedly.</p>
<p>“That’s like… five games I’ve lost now?”</p>
<p>“Seven.” a girl off to the side corrected. “I’ve been keeping count.”</p>
<p>“I told you chess was hard, you know.”</p>
<p>“You make it look so easy, Hank.” Daniel commented, rolling his eyes.</p>
<p>“Being in the Chess Club since I was 10 certainly helped.”</p>
<p>“I guess I can’t argue with that.” Daniel leaned back in his seat. “Chess is dumb.”</p>
<p>Hank shrugged. “Considering there’s entire championships for it, I wouldn’t say that.” He started to pack up his chess set. “You two wanna do anything before we have to head home?</p>
<p>“Meh, nothing I can think of right now-”</p>
<p>Daniel was cut off by the sound of something screeching through the air above. Everyone in the immediate vicinity turned their heads to the sky to see two screaming balls of fire come barreling down through the atmosphere, both respectively landing somewhere in the wilderness beyond with two crashes that shook the ground and sent birds scattering from a nearby tree. A car alarm went off somewhere a few blocks away.</p>
<p>Daniel turned back to Hank.</p>
<p>“I thought of something I wanna do.”</p>
<p>The girl on the sidelines, Piper, let out a long, tired sigh. “I’ll call my mom and let her know I’ll be home late.” She got up and walked away to call her mother.</p>
<p>“Woohoo!” Daniel cheered. He turned to another girl sitting a few yards away from them. “Yo, Anna! We’re going to go check out whatever crashed in the woods! Wanna join us?” Anna looked up from her notebook, thought for a few moments, then nodded, running over. “Sweet! This is gonna be great! It’s time for adventure!”</p>
<p>“I wonder what even landed. Maybe it was an asteroid?” Hank pondered.</p>
<p>“Nah, if it were we’d be dead by now.” Daniel replied.</p>
<p>“How do you know?” Hank asked.</p>
<p>“Well, it’s what killed the dinosaurs, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>“No no no, the one that killed the dinosaurs was way bigger. We’d be seeing way more debris too.” Hank explained. Daniel scratched at his head.</p>
<p>“What’s a debris?” he asked. Hank sighed.</p>
<p>“You know, dirt and dust and stuff. Bits and pieces of tree and rock.”</p>
<p>“Ah, like the big chunks of concrete that get left behind when you knock down a building, right?”</p>
<p>“Exactly. That’s more rubble than debris, but you’ve got the right idea.”</p>
<p>“Why are you two talking about demolishing buildings?” Piper asked, walking back over. She gave Anna a wave. “Hey Ann.” Anna waved back.</p>
<p>“Daniel asked what a debris was. His words, not mine.” Hank answered. Piper rolled her eyes.</p>
<p>“Sounds about right. We ready to go find whatever landed?”</p>
<p>“Heck yeah!” Daniel cheered.</p>
<p>“Ready as I’ll ever be!” Hank added.</p>
<p>Anna just nodded. Piper smiled.</p>
<p>“Alrighty. Ground rules before we set out.” she started. Daniel groaned in annoyance. “First off, nobody wander off too far from each other. Daniel, that’s on you specifically.”</p>
<p>“Hey!”</p>
<p>“Second, everyone watch where you step. There are rattlesnakes in the woods and they blend in with the ground; we don’t want a trip to the hospital. And lastly, once we get to the crash site, nobody runs ahead to get a better look. We evaluate it first to make sure it’s safe. Understood?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah.” Daniel replied.</p>
<p>“Got it.” Hank agreed. Anna nodded again.</p>
<p>“Good. Let’s get going then.” Piper motioned for the other three to follow. The four teens set off towards the woods.</p><hr/><hr/>
<p>The forest was filled with sound. The soft breeze rustling the branches of trees, birds chirping all around, a squirrel or two running by with food for the winter, and the sound of four teens walking through the crunchy autumn leaves. Piper briefly closed her eyes, enjoying the ambience.</p>
<p>“Man, I can’t wait for winter! This hill would be great for sledding!” Daniel spoke up, running down the hill with his arms out. Hank walked down after him.</p>
<p>“I think you’d hit a tree before you even made it to the bottom.” he noted.</p>
<p>Daniel put his hands on his hips. “You’re doubting my steering skills?”</p>
<p>“No, I’m making an accurate assessment based on the location, as well as past experiences sledding with you.”</p>
<p>“So is that nerd speak for ‘yes’?”</p>
<p>While the two boys bickered with one another, Piper turned to Anna, who was taking pictures of a small patch of mushrooms with her phone. The older girl watched curiously as the other got different angles of the fungi growing out of the tree. Anna then put her phone away, then jumped when she spotted Piper next to her.</p>
<p>“Oop- Sorry, just curious. What’re the pictures for?” Piper asked. Anna held up her notebook and pencil, and Piper nodded. “Art, got it.” The two of them started walking to catch up with the boys ahead of them. “Y’know, whatever landed will probably make for a pretty cool sketch. Maybe you could take a few photos of it when we find it.” Piper suggested. Anna nodded in response, smiling.</p>
<p>“Hey, guys! Come look! Quick!” Daniel’s voice rang out a few dozen feet away.</p>
<p>“We found the thing!” Hank added. Piper and Anna quickly ran over to see.</p>
<p>The only thing Piper could say was a simple “Holy shit.”</p>
<p>Before them was a huge vessel, entangled in tree roots, dirt, and stone. </p>
<p>It was a spaceship.</p>
<p>The rough way it had landed had half-buried it in the side of a cliff, and created a small runway where it had skidded across the ground. Some parts of it were still smoking. The four teens looked on in wonder.</p>
<p>“It’s huge!” Daniel exclaimed. “Maybe it’s an alien battleship! Or a cruise ship!”</p>
<p>“I can’t believe aliens really exist! You can’t get more proof than that!” Hank jumped in. “I wonder what they’re like. Do you think they can understand english? We’re the first humans in history to actually meet a species from another planet!”</p>
<p>“Hey, no jumping ahead like that, Hank. We don’t know if these guys are even alive, let alone friendly.” Piper scolded.</p>
<p>“Well I wanna go scope it out anyways! An alien skull would be perfect in my collection!” Daniel blurted out. He noticed the grossed-out looks he was getting from the others. “What? I have a collection of animal skulls I find in the woods.”</p>
<p>“That’s super weird, dude.” Piper replied.</p>
<p>“Whatever.” Daniel rolled his eyes and ran ahead, followed by Hank. Piper and Anna ran after them, the latter of the girls taking photos with her phone.</p>
<p>The four of them came to the entrance of a ventilation system. It was more than large enough for them to be able to fit inside. Daniel cracked his knuckles and grabbed on, wrenching the cover off. With a bow, he stepped aside, allowing the others in first before he brought up the rear. The group made their way through the vents, going around twists and turns trying to find an exit for them to get to one of the main rooms. Some areas went straight upwards, too high and too slippery for them to climb or boost each other up.</p>
<p>“This would be so cool for a clubhouse, don’t you guys think?” Daniel asked.</p>
<p>“I don’t think we’d be able to get ladders long enough to get to the higher levels.” Piper noted.</p>
<p>After about five minutes of wandering aimlessly through the vents, they finally found a vent cover blocking one of the rooms of the alien ship. The four teens ran up to it, peering out through the slits in the alien metal.</p><hr/><hr/>
<p>“Is everyone alright? Ratchet?” a large mech asked. A white and red bot lifted himself up from behind a command console.</p>
<p>“I’m fine, Optimus.” Ratchet answered, shaking himself off. “How about you, Hot Rod?” Another red bot raised his arm from his spot on the floor.</p>
<p>“I’m good, aside from a few dents.” He sat up. “That’s probably the third roughest crash landing I’ve ever survived.” A small yellow bot peeked out from behind a seat that had gotten disconnected from its spot bolted to the floor.</p>
<p>“I’m okay Optimus.” Bumblebee called out. Optimus smiled back at him.</p>
<p>“I am glad you’re all okay.” The prime attempted to get one of the computers working, to no avail. “It would seem most of our systems were knocked offline in the Decepticon attack. We will have to see ourselves if the others survived the landing.”</p>
<p>As he said that, a second red mech burst in through the door, carrying a smaller, pink and blue one in his arms.</p>
<p>“ARCEE’S INJURED!” he blurted out. Arcee shoved him away, climbing out of his arms.</p>
<p>“It’s just a scratch, Cliff. It doesn’t even hurt at all.” she laughed.</p>
<p>“That doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to worry!”</p>
<p>“Will a medic’s opinion calm you down?” Ratchet asked. Arcee lifted her leg and motioned to a barely noticeable scratch. Ratchet waved his servo dismissively. “You’re fine. Just a bit of chipped paint.”</p>
<p>“Better?” Arcee asked. Cliffjumper grumbled.</p>
<p>“I guess.” he pouted. </p>
<p>Optimus walked over to the duo. “Are Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Windblade alright?” he asked.</p>
<p>“Well, aside from one of Windblade’s wings getting bent pretty badly, they seemed fine.” Arcee answered. “They should be joining us briefly.”</p>
<p>A slender black and red bot made her way into the room, one of her wings bent horribly out of shape. </p>
<p>“Hey, Ratchet?” Windblade called.</p>
<p>“I heard. Come on over, I’ll fix you up.” the old mech replied, clearing some junk off the medberth. Windblade sat herself down and Ratchet started working on getting her wing back into place.</p>
<p>Two large bots entered the room, one dragging the other by the leg.</p>
<p>“Did something happen?” Optimus asked. The green mech shrugged.</p>
<p>“We’re fine. Jackie’s just being dramatic.” he answered.</p>
<p>“I perished in the crash. Give me an honorable burial.” Wheeljack announced. Bulkhead rolled his optics, chuckling.</p>
<p>“Enough fooling around, mechs. We have bigger matters at hand right now.” Arcee interrupted.</p>
<p>Optimus nodded. “Arcee is right. Much of the Ark was damaged in the crash, and we will need to repair our systems if we are to remain on this planet for the foreseeable future. Our most recent battle may have been lost, but the war still rages on.”</p><hr/><hr/>
<p>The four high schoolers were speechless, watching from the vent as the aliens walked around the ship, talking about some sort of war. Though they couldn’t quite get a very good view from where they were, they could still tell these things were absolutely massive.</p>
<p>“Giant alien robots…” Daniel quietly gasped. His expression turned from shock to pure, unbridled excitement, and he squealed happily. “This is so freaking cool!”</p>
<p>“Shh! Daniel, be quiet!” Piper whispered. “We still don’t know if they’re hostile or not!”</p>
<p>“Well we’re not gonna know if we don’t go say hi!” Daniel retorted. “Hank, you were excited about meeting some aliens, you’re with me, right?”</p>
<p>Hank took a few steps back. “Dude, they could probably crush us with just their fingers! I don’t wanna get squished like a human bug!”</p>
<p>“Oh come on, dude! Don’t be such a scaredy-cat!”</p>
<p>“I’m being sensible!”</p>
<p>“It’s going to be on me if one of you guys gets hurt.” Piper scolded. “I don’t want to get in trouble for being irresponsible and letting you guys run underfoot of a bunch of giant robots.”</p>
<p>“Piper, come on! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here!”</p>
<p>“I said no, and I-”</p>
<p>“Wait, Anna, no!” Hank suddenly blurted, the attention being drawn to the red-haired girl as she moved aside the vent cover and slipped out into the main room. The other three humans quickly gave chase, then froze as they watched Anna casually walk out into the open.</p>
<p>Where she was quickly spotted by the yellow bot.</p>
<p>“Uh, hello there.” the alien greeted, waving. Anna waved back timidly. The yellow mech carefully extended his hand down to the human, and she carefully sat herself down in his palm.</p><hr/><hr/>
<p>Bumblebee gently carried the small organic creature over to the rest of the Autobots.</p>
<p>“Hey guys, look. I already found a native.” </p>
<p>The others turned their helms over to him, a multitude of expressions on their faceplates.</p>
<p>“Well, that was fast.”</p>
<p>“How in the pit did it get in here?”</p>
<p>“Gross.”</p>
<p>“Can it talk?”</p>
<p>Bumblebee shrugged, careful not to jostle the small creature in his servo. “Not sure.” He looked down at the tiny alien. “Can you even understand us?”</p>
<p>It nodded. Bumblebee smiled.</p>
<p>“I’m Bumblebee. What’s your name?” the yellow bot asked, his door wings fluttering lightly. The organic was silent for a few moments.</p>
<p>“I’m Anna.” Anna quietly answered.</p>
<p>“It’s nice to meet you, Anna! You have a cute name.” Bumblebee replied.</p>
<p>“So do you.” the small alien giggled. The rest of the Autobots came over to get a better look at the strange organic creature.</p>
<p>“What exactly are you?” Ratchet asked, keeping his distance.</p>
<p>“I’m a human.” Anna answered. Ratchet raised one of his optical ridges in curiosity.</p>
<p>“‘Human’? Are they the dominant species on this planet?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. We’re all over the place.” Anna readjusted her position sitting on Bumblebee’s servo. “I actually came in with three of my friends.”</p>
<p>“Oh Primus, there’s four of them.” the medic muttered. </p>
<p>Optimus stepped forward. “If I may ask, Anna, where are your friends?”</p>
<p>“They’re over by the vent we came in through.” Anna answered, pointing.</p>
<p>Piper, Daniel, and Hank shared a look amongst themselves.</p>
<p>“Guess that’s our cue?” Hank asked.</p>
<p>Piper took a deep breath and nodded, stepping out with the two boys to introduce themselves.</p><hr/><hr/>
<p>“Soundwave.” the silver mech began, his chassis peppered with dents and scrapes. “What is the extent of the damage dealt to the Nemesis?”</p>
<p>A slender blue mech typed into a command console, the glow of the holographic screen reflecting off his scratched visor.</p>
<p>“Damage report systems: Offline.” he announced. Megatron grumbled in annoyance.</p>
<p>“It seems we will have to assess our condition manually. Starscream?”</p>
<p>A lithe bot colored red and blue stepped forward, bowing to the warlord.</p>
<p>“Yes, Lord Megatron?”</p>
<p>“Collect the others, and have them begin a damage report on the Nemesis. Check in with Knockout and Shockwave as well if they survived our… unscheduled descent.” Megatron requested. </p>
<p>Starscream gave him a nod.</p>
<p>“Of course, my liege.” With a flick of his silver wings, Starscream made his exit.</p>
<p>“In the meantime, Soundwave, get to work on repairing our planetary scanners. We will need to begin looking for energon deposits as soon as possible, assuming the damage dealt to not only the Nemesis, but our troops as well.” Megatron commanded. Soundwave gave a nod in response.</p>
<p>“Affirmative.”</p><hr/><hr/>
<p>A purple mech diligently cleaned up the broken and spilled materials that he didn’t have time to secure when the Nemesis started it’s fall towards Earth. He absolutely despised having an unclean laboratory space. He knew this sort of thing wasn’t something you could plan ahead of time, but it still irked him that so many of his tools got smashed in the impact. There were only so many test tubes in storage he could go through.</p>
<p>With a heavy sigh, the cyclops moved over to his storage closet to retrieve some cleaning supplies. His audial fins leaned back in annoyance at seeing his normally neat and organized closet in complete disarray.</p>
<p>Damned Autobots.</p>
<p>He immediately got to work on reorganizing, putting everything back into its proper place.</p>
<p>“Wow, this place is a mess.” a voice from the door loudly noted. The one-optic mech grumbled, turning to Starscream with fins lowered.</p>
<p>“Your commentary is unneeded, Starscream.” he retorted. The red and silver mech shrugged, casually looking at his talons.</p>
<p>“Just giving my input, Shockwave. It is the logical thing to do, is it not?”</p>
<p>“As I just stated, it is unneeded, and therefore illogical.” Shockwave explained. This kind of situation wasn’t uncommon. The Decepticon Second in Command often paid him visits just to try and get on his nerves. The whole thing was illogical in his optic, but he made no move to try and get it to stop. Megatron wouldn’t give two frags, and Soundwave probably found the entire situation entertaining. He sighed again, one of his fins twitching ever so slightly. “Is there a reason for your visit? Or are you just here to pester me?”</p>
<p>“Lord Megatron asked me to stop in with you and the good doctor to see if you survived the crash. Unfortunately, it seems you did.” Starscream smugly replied</p>
<p>“The sentiment is returned.” Shockwave turned back to his closet. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of cleaning to get to, and I would appreciate some solitude while I do so.”</p>
<p>“Fine, fine, I’ll leave you be.” The seeker turned and strutted his way out of the room, wings flickering. Shockwave glared at him while he left. With a grumble, he resumed tidying up his workspace.</p><hr/><hr/>
<p>“Knockout? Are you alive in here?”</p>
<p>The only response he got was an audial-piercing wail. He flinched back in surprise.</p>
<p>“What the frag?” Starscream snarled, rubbing at his audials.</p>
<p>“Hey Commander Starscream.” Breakdown greeted. “We’re alright, doc’s just a bit, uh… distressed at the moment.”</p>
<p>“MY FINISH IS RUINED!” Knockout cried from the floor. Starscream exaggeratedly rolled his optics, walking over and kicking at the medic with his pede.</p>
<p>“We all got banged up upon impact, get yourself together!” the seeker hissed. “You have a lot of work ahead of you, and I suggest you get to it or Lord Megatron will have a word with you! Seriously, LOOK at the state of your medbay!” He wildly motioned around to the clutter that had thrown itself around the room. Knockout whined and lifted himself up off the floor.</p>
<p>“Couldn’t they at least have given us a ten-klik warning?” he complained, kicking away a welding tool by his peds. Starscream glared at him.</p>
<p>“It’s a war, Knockout. You can’t schedule a crash landing.” The seeker crossed his arms. “Look, the sooner you get everything reorganized, the sooner you can fix the damage done to your chassis. I think you would prefer having more space to work with.”</p>
<p>Knockout sighed heavily. “I guess I would.”</p>
<p>“Good.” Starscream nodded. “I will leave the two of you to your cleaning. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go retrieve Slipstream, Blitzwing, and Airachnid for a damage report of the ship. I will stop in later for repairs.”</p>
<p>Knockout waved as the red and silver bot left, both he and Breakdown getting to putting everything back in place. The red mech pouted as he picked up a broken tool.</p>
<p>“Aw, this was my favorite buffer.”</p>
<p>Breakdown wrapped his arms around the smaller bot from behind. “Hey, it’s alright doc. We can always fix it, right?”</p>
<p>“I suppose so.” Knockout chuckled, nuzzling his helm against Breakdown’s faceplates. Breakdown smiled wider.</p>
<p>“Alright, we have time to snuggle later. We better get back to cleaning or else Screamer’s gonna live up to his name.” Breakdown said, releasing his conjunx from the embrace. Knockout nodded, and the two of them resumed cleaning.</p><hr/><hr/>
<p>“So you’re telling me we haven’t even been on this planet for FIVE BREEMS and Airachnid already ran off?!”</p>
<p>The red and blue seeker was standing before another seeker and a larger mech, wings vibrating angrily. The other two seemed to think his rage was rather amusing.</p>
<p>“Never can keep an eye on that one. Knowing her, she’s scouting out the planet’s terrain to get a good ambush strategy on the ‘Bots.” the purple and blue seeker said, shrugging.</p>
<p>“Strategizing is supposed to be MY job! I’m the Second in Command for a reason!” Starscream snapped back.</p>
<p>The large bot laughed. “Maybe she’s vying for your position, ‘Scream!”</p>
<p>“Tch. I’ll readily see her try and take my place. I doubt she has the abilities necessary for a proper air commander. And on that note, she can’t even fly! You can’t be air commander if you can’t fly!”</p>
<p>“You complain too much.” the purple seeker scoffed. “Did you need us for something or did you just want to screech?”</p>
<p>“I’m GETTING to it, Slipstream. And that is NOT how you speak to your commanding officer!”</p>
<p>Slipstream raised an optical ridge at him. Starscream huffed frustratedly.</p>
<p>“Lord Megatron commanded me to locate you, Blitzwing, and Airachnid to do a manual assessment of the ship, as our scanners were damaged in the crash. Our aerial abilities will give us an advantage getting to the finer details.” he explained.</p>
<p>“Sounds easy enough. This’ll be boring.” Blitzwing mused, stretching.</p>
<p>“I will NOT tolerate any complaining, no matter how ‘boring’ it is.” Starscream growled. “My orders were specific, and I expect you to follow my command.”</p>
<p>“Primus, what crawled up your tailpipe?” Slipstream remarked sarcastically.</p>
<p>“WHAT DID I JUST-”</p>
<p>“Are we going to go do this evaluation or not? We’re not getting anywhere just standing around yelling at each other.” the purple seeker interrupted.</p>
<p>Starscream growled, stomping a ped against the floor. “Fine.” he spat, dentals clenched. He turned and stormed out, followed closely behind by Slipstream and Blitzwing. </p>
<p>He hated that nobody on this Primus-forsaken ship gave him the respect he deserved. Surely a little praise wouldn’t hurt every once in a while, would it? He did so much for the Decepticon cause, and he had nothing to show for it.</p>
<p>Sometimes he wondered why he still stuck around.</p><hr/><hr/>
<p>“So, how did all of you end up here on Earth?”</p>
<p>The four humans had introduced themselves to and had been introduced to all of the Autobots- Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Arcee, Cliffjumper, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Hot Rod, and Windblade- and were now sitting on one of the control panels while the bots were cleaning up. Arcee was the one to answer Piper’s question.</p>
<p>“We were in a rough battle with the Decepticon warship, the Nemesis, and took a heavy blow that knocked our engines offline and sent us plummeting towards the nearest planet, which happened to be this one.” she explained.</p>
<p>“We also managed to land a hit on their ship, so the ‘Cons are probably here now too. Whether or not that’s a good thing, I guess we’ll just have to find out.” Hot Rod added.</p>
<p>“How many Decepticons are there?” Hank asked.</p>
<p>“There’s only about 9 on Earth right now, last time we counted.” Bulkhead answered.</p>
<p>“Well, where are the rest of them?”</p>
<p>“Your guess is as good as mine.” The large bot shrugged. “Either dead or hidden all around the universe, just like all the other cybertronians.”</p>
<p>“‘Cybertronians’?” Daniel pondered aloud.</p>
<p>“Cybertron was the name of our home planet, and as such, we call ourselves cybertronians after it.” Optimus answered. He solemnly stared off into the distance. “Unfortunately, our planet is long dead, eons of civil war having destroyed it beyond repair.”</p>
<p>“D… Destroyed?” Anna quietly stuttered.</p>
<p>“How the heck did you manage that?” Piper jumped in.</p>
<p>“Entire thing basically just broke in half. Using a giant fusion cannon to try and wipe out a battalion will do that.” Wheeljack nonchalantly replied.</p>
<p>“It’s technically a war strategy but certainly not an intelligent one.” Ratchet muttered, adding on something about ‘Megatron’ under his breath.</p>
<p>“So now what’s left of our home is a planet broken into pieces and our people scattered across the stars.” Windblade continued. “But even so, the war’s far from over.”</p>
<p>There was silence for a moment before Daniel broke it.</p>
<p>“Why are you even fighting? What’s the war for?”</p>
<p>Optimus spoke after a few more silent moments. “It was once for a noble cause, Autobot and Decepticon alike fighting against the council of Cybertron for their freedom; to end the oppressive system the council put in place. But along the way, the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, lost his way, wanting to conquer Cybertron and its colonies for himself. His ideals have become corrupted, and now we Autobots fight against his forces to protect the fate of all living beings.”</p>
<p>“So… chances are he’s gonna try to conquer Earth too… right?” Anna timidly asked.</p>
<p>“I’m afraid so, Anna.” Optimus replied. The small human shuddered. “Do not worry. As long as we stand, we will do our best to prevent Megatron from bringing harm to this world, and to your kind.”</p>
<p>“Here’s hoping…” Piper mumbled.</p><hr/><hr/>
<p>A black arachnicon with purple and gold accents nimbly strode across the terrain of the alien planet, expertly weaving herself between the trees. She was in her element out here. She was small and fast, and her spider legs were equipped for any environment. The Autobots wouldn’t stand a chance against her here, she was almost certain.</p>
<p>Airachnid climbed up into the dense branches of a nearby tree, peering through the fiery orange and red leaves at the crash site of the Ark. The Autobot ship was remarkably well hidden, having been lodged into the earth. The leftover dirt and ash from impact camouflaged it rather nicely as well. The question stood: were the Autobots still alive?</p>
<p>The arachnicon looked closer, watching four vehicles- it looked like Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Hot Rod, and Arcee- emerge from somewhere on the other side of the Ark and start driving off into the woods. That answered her question. It however raised another question seeing a small native atop Arcee’s vehicle mode. </p>
<p>“Already making friends with the locals? How cute.” Airachnid mused to herself. She jumped from the tree she was perched in and into another one, following the four Autobots as they drove through the forest and out onto a dirt road.</p>
<p>Ah, here was that perfect opportunity she had been waiting for.</p>
<p>Airachnid landed gracefully on the ground below, right in front of the Autobots. They screeched to a halt. The Earth native Arcee was paired with let out a shriek, and the spider bot could make out three more natives with the other three Autobots as well. </p>
<p>“Well hello there, Autobots! I must say, it’s nice to drop in on you again~”</p>
<p>“SCATTER!” Arcee called out. All four ‘Bots peeled into the woods in different directions, Airachnid deciding to give chase to the pink and blue motorcycle. Piper looked back at the spider as the two of them drove through the trees.</p>
<p>“Is that one of those ‘Decepticons’ you mentioned?!” she yelled over the wind.</p>
<p>“You’d be right, kid!” Arcee answered. “Ugh, of all mechs, it HAD to be Airachnid you met first!” </p>
<p>“What’s up with Airachnid?! Why is this a bad thing?! Er- Aside from the obvious!”</p>
<p>“She hunts and tears apart native species for fun! She’s sick!” the motorcycle spat.</p>
<p>“Oh crap, I’M a native species…” Piper muttered to herself. She yelped as Airachnid nearly missed landing right on top of the two of them. “DRIVE FASTER DRIVE FASTER DRIVE FASTER!”</p>
<p>“You don’t need to tell me twice!” Arcee replied, revving her engine.</p>
<p>Airachnid was intercepted by blue laser fire from the side, turning and spotting Hot Rod aiming at her.</p>
<p>“EAT PLASMA, GLITCH!” he shouted, running at her while continuing to shoot. The arachnicon expertly jumped out of the way of the blasts, firing back with her own blasters. Another round of laser fire from another angle caught her off-guard, Arcee having transformed back to her root mode to assist Hot Rod. Realizing she was outnumbered, Airachnid growled and leapt into the trees, no doubt heading back to the Nemesis to report back to her superiors.</p>
<p>“Rod? Where’s your kid?” Arcee asked, shifting her blasters away. The red mech shrugged.</p>
<p>“Dropped him off with ‘Bee. He should be fine.”</p>
<p>“I’ll take your word for it, I guess.” Arcee shrugged.</p>
<p>Piper emerged from behind a tree, walking over to the two bots. “Well, that was freakin’ terrifying.”</p>
<p>“Heh, sorry for the bad first impression, Piper.” Arcee replied. She opened a comm to the other two Autobots. “Bumblebee, Bulkhead, come in. What’s your status?”</p>
<p>“We’re fine, and so are the kids.” Bulkhead replied.</p>
<p>“THAT WAS FUCKING AWESOME! Was that a spider robot?! That is so badass!” Daniel’s voice came over the comm link.</p>
<p>“What should we do now?” Bumblebee asked.</p>
<p>“We’ll rendezvous back at the Ark once we get the kids home. We’ll need to report this to Optimus as soon as possible.” Arcee answered.</p>
<p>“No doubt if Airachnid knows where we are, the ‘Cons will soon too.” Bulkhead thought aloud, audibly shuddering.</p>
<p>Arcee closed the comm link and transformed to her vehicle mode. “Hop on Piper. Rod, you might wanna head back early.”</p>
<p>“Gotcha. I’ll let Optimus know what went down. Stay safe.”</p>
<p>Hot Rod transformed as well, and the two Autobots parted ways, Piper with Arcee once again.</p>
<hr/>
<hr/>
<p>Arcee pulled up to Piper’s apartment building, the latter sliding off and stepping onto the sidewalk. The teen turned to the motorcycle.</p>
<p>“Thanks for the ride, Arcee.” Piper thanked.</p>
<p>“It’s no problem. Sorry for getting you wound up in all this…”</p>
<p>“It’s alright, really. I’d offer to help out, but I don’t think there’s much I can do in an alien war.”</p>
<p>“Ironically enough, this isn’t going to be the first time we get to talk.” Arcee noted. “Thanks to Airachnid, the ‘Cons know our current location, and it seems likely they’re going to assume we’ve made human allies too.”</p>
<p>“And judging from what I’ve heard so far…” Piper trailed off.</p>
<p>“Yep. Luckily, knowing Optimus, he’s going to make sure you have our protection.”</p>
<p>“That’s good to know at least.” Piper smiled. “See you around, then.”</p>
<p>“Bye Piper. Take care.”</p>
<p>Piper began up the steps of her apartment building. A thought popped into her head at the last second and she turned back to Arcee.</p>
<p>“Oh by the way! It might be a little weird to people seeing a motorcycle driving around on its own!” she called out.</p>
<p>“No worries, I got it!” Arcee called back. A holographic form appeared atop Arcee’s vehicle mode, the features unable to be discerned underneath the helmet and biker suit.</p>
<p>“Heh, cool.” Piper said to herself. She waved, and the holodriver waved back. As Arcee drove off, Piper entered the building and headed up to her apartment.</p>
<hr/>
<hr/>
<p>“How are we supposed to find a new base on this planet?!” Ratchet yelled. “It’s not like we can just pack up all our technology and bring it somewhere else!”</p>
<p>“And on that note, we saw firsthand how primitive Earth tech is. We wouldn’t be able to build up from scrap, and I doubt any kind of cloaking system the humans have would be able to compete with the Decepticons’ scanners.” Windblade added.</p>
<p>“It’s not like we can stay where we are now. If the Decepticons know our location, it puts the humans in danger as well if we’re going to be protecting them.” Arcee explained.</p>
<p>“So we can’t stay here…” Bumblebee thought aloud.</p>
<p>“But we can’t just abandon this place either.” Cliffjumper continued for him.</p>
<p>Optimus hummed to himself, thinking. “Ratchet, how long do you think it would take to repair the Ark’s systems enough to relocate it?”</p>
<p>“It would take a few Earth cycles to get it to a state we could move a good enough distance away that the Decepticons wouldn’t be able to find us again.” Ratchet scoffed. “Though, I suppose that would only be with one mech working on it alone…”</p>
<p>“You think with all 9 of us working together we could cut it down to a few joors?” Bulkhead asked.</p>
<p>“Implying we wouldn’t just impede each others’ progress instead of speeding it up.”</p>
<p>“I will make sure we stay on task, old friend.” Optimus reassured. He turned to the rest of the Autobots. “Time is of the essence, Autobots. We will need to work swiftly to ensure the safety of not only ourselves, but our human friends as well.”</p>
<p>“Well, what are we waiting for?” Hot Rod asked. “Let’s get this wreck airborne!”</p>
<hr/>
<hr/>
<p>Megatron turned to glance back at his Second in Command as he entered the bridge.</p>
<p>“Well?”</p>
<p>“Damages to the Nemesis don’t seem too extensive. If time isn’t wasted, we should be flight-worthy within a few joors.” Starscream answered. Megatron hummed in response.</p>
<p>“I expect repairs to be started immediately. Dismissed.”</p>
<p>Starscream bowed to Megatron and left the bridge to retrieve Shockwave and Knockout.</p>
<p>Or at least, that’s what Megatron assumed, until he heard shouting just outside the doors.</p>
<p>“And where the frag have YOU been?!”</p>
<p>“Just out scouting. I had a little run-in with the Autobots, and I discovered something our master may want to hear.”</p>
<p>“Under whose orders?! I never gave you permission to-”</p>
<p>“Starscream, was my command not clear?!” Megatron shouted through the door. “You may enter, Airachnid.”</p>
<p>The arachnicon calmly strode into the bridge. Starscream’s frightened expression was visible for a moment before the doors closed again. </p>
<p>Airachnid bowed to Megatron. “Thank you, my liege.”</p>
<p>“What is it that you believe I’d like to hear?” the warlord questioned. The spider bot looked up at him with a devious expression.</p>
<p>“It would seem the Autobots have already made an alliance with the locals.”</p>
<p>Megatron raised an optical ridge.</p>
<p>“Have they now?”</p>
<p>“Indeed~” Airachnid purred. “It may provide our enemy with a few advantages, but also disadvantages. And we may find a few opportunities with this for… negotiation~”</p>
<p>Megatron chuckled a bit. “It always was like Orion to get attached to worthless organic creatures. Thank you Airachnid, you have done well.” The arachnicon bowed and sashayed out the door, leaving Megatron and Soundwave on the bridge. The warlord turned to Soundwave, who had just gotten the surveillance system back online. “Always so eager to please, isn’t she Soundwave?”</p>
<p>Soundwave did not verbally respond, just nodding to show he was listening as he continued to work. Megatron turned back to the Nemesis’ front window, looking out at the alien landscape.</p>
<p>“We’ll need to keep a close optic on her. Starscream behaved just like her when he first joined our ranks all those eons ago.”</p>
<p>“Airachnid: Similarly attempting to gain trust.” Soundwave concluded. </p>
<p>“Indeed. And if history indeed repeats itself, it won’t be long before she attempts to climb her way to the top.”</p>
<hr/>
<hr/>
<p>“Everything seems to be in working order.” Ratchet announced. “Fuel systems are online, though almost completely empty. The thrusters are functional, weapons are still offline but hopefully shouldn’t be needed, planetary scanners and cloaking systems should be up in just a klik…” He finished welding together a few wires and the Ark’s screens popped online. “A-ha!”</p>
<p>“Well done, old friend.” Optimus congratulated, smiling. He turned to the rest of the Autobots as they came in. “Good work, Autobots. Thanks to your efforts, we are now ready to relocate the Ark.”</p>
<p>“Woo-hoo!” Bumblebee cheered, high-fiving Hot Rod.</p>
<p>“And if we get blown to scrap, we can blame Wheeljack and Bulkhead.” Windblade joked.</p>
<p>“Meh, that’s fair.”</p>
<p>“Heh, yeah.”</p>
<p>“We’re not going to explode, we did fine.” Arcee reassured. “Let’s get ourselves out of this chunk of dirt.”</p>
<p>“Autobots, to your stations!” Optimus called. Everyone rushed to their spots to prepare for liftoff.</p>
<p>The Ark creaked as it slowly rose out of the earth, dirt and rock falling from its mighty hull as it slowly lifted towards the sky. Once the ship had gotten to a high enough altitude, the cloaking system activated, making it seem to disappear completely. </p>
<p>“The Ark’s moving far below full speed, but we are low on fuel.” Ratchet sighed.</p>
<p>“We still have enough to move ourselves to a safer location, Ratchet.” Optimus added. “That is all we will need for the time being. For now,” he turned to the rest of the Autobots, who were excitedly looking out the window at the planet below, “we will get to know our new home.”</p>
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